Tag Archives: Mrs ana’Tak

The Gate That Locks the Tree – Act 8, Scene 1

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The Gate
Enter Nelirikk and Jarome

In which Vertu and her passengers make it within the gate.

Jarome, it turns out, is another character who is in the cast list twice, once for his first appearance in person and once for when he becomes someone known by name to the viewpoint characters.

I don’t know if it’s because she’s in the middle of a conversation between Liadens when it happens, or if she’s still Liaden enough in her head that it would have happened anyway, but I note that when Vertu’s viewpoint refers to Miri it names her as “Miri Tiazan” and not “Miri Robertson”.

The Gate That Locks the Tree – Act 3, Scene 1

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In the Hall of the Mountain King
Enter Talizea, Miri, Jeeves, Val Con, the Tree, clowders of cats and kindles of kittens

In which the house is unsettled.

“In the Hall of the Mountain King” is the title of a famous piece of music by Edvard Grieg, originally written as incidental music for Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. The relevant bit of the play tells how Peer Gynt visited the court of the Mountain King and formed a connection with one of the King’s daughters, not entirely to the satisfaction of anybody involved. The supernatural and inhuman Mountain King’s most famous moment has him proclaiming a philosophy of supreme selfishness that regards everyone and everything else as inconsequential.

…and I’ve said all this before on the blog, because Crystal Dragon used “In the Hall of the Mountain Kings” as a chapter title when it had a sequence set in the domain of the Great Enemy. To have the same metaphor now applied to Jelaza Kazone is, to say the least, disconcerting.
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Accepting the Lance – Chapter 78

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Jelaza Kazone

In which Rys’s brothers plan how best to aid him.

Here we start to see the pay-off of both the “my own lady holds my soul” conversation and the observation that Rys has connections to his brothers and sisters similar to a Healer’s connections to her patients.

Something tells me there’s soon going to be another landing in Korval’s back field to annoy the survey team.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 77

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Jelaza Kazone

In which Rys is on his way home.

The scare quotes in the sentence about Emissary Twelve and Scout yo’Bingim each taking a packet of cookies to share with their comrades suggests that the narrator expects them to account for their own packet without any assistance. If that’s the case, I assume it was Scout yo’Bingim who came up with the story about comrades; bending the truth in such a way seems more in character for a Scout than for a Clutch Turtle, and she at least can point to comrades on-world, which Emissary Twelve can’t (unless one counts the Bedel, I suppose).

Scout Commander Val Con yos’Phelium thinks that the consequences of the election are likely to be fascinating. And I still recall what Miri said a few chapters ago about what it means when Val Con judges something to be fascinating.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 75

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Jelaza Kazone

In which Emissary Twelve has thoughts about change.

There’s a lot of thinking about the future in this chapter: about what they will do if Boss Surebleak wins, and, perhaps more importantly, what kind of future they will shape if Boss Surebleak doesn’t win.

That makes, I believe two appointments the portmaster has tomorrow, beginning two hours apart. I wonder if they will collide in some fashion.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 54

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Port Road
Yulie Shaper’s Place

In which Val Con receives news of his brother’s family.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen someone do the disappear-in-plain-sight trick. I wonder if there’s a reason we’re being reminded of it now.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 41

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Jelaza Kazone

In which Chernak and Stost go to rejoin their captain.

That appears to settle, fairly definitely, the question of where Chernak and Stost would serve if they had their preference.

I notice that Val Con refers to Theo as “your captain” near the end, suggesting that Diglon told him what Chernak said, or perhaps Jeeves did. I wonder if anybody plans to tell Theo, or if they’re going to let her figure it out for herself.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 25

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Jelaza Kazone

In which a professional has been at work.

Of the bosses whose turfs saw action, we have not previously heard of Boss Threadle. Bosses Conrad and Kalhoon are, of course, the leaders of the Council of Bosses, and Boss Vine holds the territory immediately neighbouring the spaceport. Boss Wentworth was mentioned a few times in Necessity’s Child but I don’t recall if we learned anything particular about him.
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Neogenesis – Chapter 20 part V

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In which Val Con and Miri gather information about their visitors.

This is the first mention I can recall of there now being two separate branches of the Scouts, but it doesn’t surprise me. I presume the schism is a consequence of the events surrounding Korval’s big play and subsequent exile, and the subsequent removal of a chunk of Liaden society to Surebleak. Liaden society as a whole was divided over how to view Korval’s actions, and although many Scouts had a sympathy for Korval it is not to be supposed that they were unanimous in their approval.
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Neogenesis – Chapter 20 part III

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In which Val Con and Miri are not getting much sleep tonight.

Chapter 20 is shaping up to be a long chapter, to the point that I’m almost wondering if I need to subdivide the sections even further. Makes sense, though, since this is the chapter where a whole bunch of plot strands come together, not just from this book but from the four books preceding it.
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